Human Genome Project Information Archive
1990–2003

C. Elegans Sequencing Project Nears Finish

At the 1997 Santa Fe meeting, NIH-funded researcher Stephanie Chissoe [Washington University, St. Louis (WUSTL)] provided an overview of the final, closure phases of the project to sequence the 100-Mb genome of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Working in equal collaboration with the Sanger Center (Hinxton, U.K.), researchers expect completion by the end of this year, making another major achievement in the Human Genome Project.

A clone-based sequence-ready map provided the majority of sequencing substrates, including cosmids and YACs. Analysis and annotation of the finished sequence include identification of potential exons by similarity to EST data and known protein sequences and by gene-prediction programs. Before submission to GenBank, the generated data sets are read into the ACeDB database and reconciled manually with each other and with ancillary C. elegans map data. Thus far the teams have identified 13,747 annotated genes in 71.4 MB of annotated sequence from the February 1998 ACeDB release. Some 30% match a C. elegans EST, and 55% have some similarity. About half of C. elegans genes lack significant database hits that are likely to provide clues to function, Chissoe noted, so WUSTL investigators are generating C. briggsae comparative sequencing data.

The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v9n3).